Simi Xiar-den
Most Eladrin are born fair of hair and bright of eyes. They revere Corellon above the other gods in general, though of course exceptions abound. The day Simi was born brought a rare child to the race: one with hair as dark as pitch and eyes deep in their aqua colour. The birth was heralded by unseasonably chilly storms that eclipsed the sun and brought nighttime into the otherwise dazzling terrain. While neither the storms nor the dark Eladrin are totally alien in the depths of the Feywild, both together made for heavy hearts in the elders that ruled Simi’s city. The city’s vaults held scrolls that foretold the birth of an Eladrin girl-child that the Raven Queen would claim as her own. The child would bring Shadow to the Feywild – not to destroy, but certainly to change. The elders were in dissent as to how to handle the infant. None knew for certain that she was the one in the legend, but just as many felt they could presume otherwise. Some spoke of slaying the girl, but they were quickly curbed by the prospect of the Raven Queen’s wrath. A few suggested rearing the girl as any other Eladrin child and let destiny come what may. But eventually it was decided that she should be given to her Mistress. And so it was that before she saw the light of her first day or even her parents’ loving faces, Simi was rushed into the Shadowfell. There an emissary left the swaddling babe with a priest at a temple devoted to the Dark Mistress. Baden Razvahn and the rest of the temple’s clergy knew well the legend which brought the child to them, but whether or not she was the one prophesied, they would tell no one – not even Simi after she came of age. The Temple of Duskfall raised the child high in the Marloch Mountains in the Shadowfell region called Ba’atar. The landscape was so bleak and dull that even one’s soul felt weighed down – certainly no place for children of the Feywild. The shadar-kai running the temple instilled a fiery passion in their wards, Simi and Phara, such that they didn’t fade into the Shadow as the hopeless often do there. Baden himself was actually Eladrin, and though he had adopted the shadar-kai life and even took one of their names he schooled the two feyborn girls in the Eladrin way, as well. Other doctrines often bordered on zealotry, particularly when unliving abominations were concerned. As mentioned, Simi was not the only Eladrin child taken in by the temple. Phara was also born under portentous circumstances in her native lands a few years before Simi. Her circumstances were not identical, but they caused her elders concern, nonetheless. Apparently her small village was visited by an unkindness of ravens that arrived the night she was born, and departed the following morning. It wasn’t until one year later, when the ravens returned on the anniversary of her birth, that she was removed to the dark mountains. Simi and Phara knew no other children and grew up together as sisters, though they bore little resemblance – Phara was blonde and bright-eyed, in stark contrast to Simi’s dark features. There was little love spared, though, and even Baden was a harsh, if fair, master. The two girls developed a fierce rivalry as they were trained in martial and spiritual matters, but the elder child ultimately surpassed Simi’s abilities at almost every challenge. Only in the art of healing did the younger child take the advantage. When she came of age, Simi broke the cycle of competition. She chose to follow the path of a healer, whereas Phara chose to follow the path of a holy warrior. Simi took the surname Xiár-den (“White Feather”) and ventured out of the Shadowfell to pursue her calling. Baden gave her a letter of introduction to join the Order of the Dark Feather, an organization in the World that militantly followed the same ideals as Duskfall. Ezdar, the high priest, opened a portal and through it she stepped. Simi took with her some remnants of shadar-kai life. She has several piercings and occasionally employs a cilice to aid her in meditation. She also bears a few tattoos, though they were inscribed using the painful needle methods of her upbringing in lieu of the delicate magical methods of her heritage. Both her tattoos and her piercings are more discreetly located than those brandished by the shadar-kai themselves, or even Baden or Phara. The cilice is likewise kept to herself, and she does not speak of it to others. She is not embarrassed by any of these measures; instead, she considers them her private connections to her goddess. No desire to discover her parentage gnaws at Simi’s heart. Neither does she wish ill upon them for abandoning her – they just don’t factor into her calling. The shadar-kai taught her that life is worth living, but never regretting. She has long decided that Phara was the prophesied child, if indeed either of them were, so she gives little thought to fulfilling the destiny for which she was sent away. She does aspire to earn more favour in the Dark Mistress’ eyes than might her sister earn, and perhaps to even have audience with the Raven Queen one day. Until then, she will earn her feathers battling the undead and other minions of Orcus.